From the Capitol Times (madison wisonsin)

Hunter: Boycott the DNR
Unhappy with ban on feeding, baiting
By Anita Weier
April 25, 2003

NESHKORO, Wis. - Comparing the state Natural Resources Board to England' s King George III, Todd Mascaretti said he' s tired of being a colonist subjected to tyranny.

The Marquette County hunting enthusiast is trying to launch a boycott of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in protest of the board' s decision this week to ban baiting and feeding of deer statewide, to double the size of the chronic wasting disease deer kill zone and to allow the DNR to use helicopters in deer hunts if necessary.

Mascaretti - a 35-year-old who is vice chairman for Marquette County in the Wisconsin Conservation Congress - is also angry because the state agency is proposing an increase in hunting and fishing license fees.

But mostly, he' s angry because " the DNR is out of control" - in its spending and its actions.

" We want to break the DNR, start from scratch and retake control of our department that is no longer representing the hunting community. We are their subjects," Mascaretti said.

" We are issuing a call to arms to all hunters and fishermen throughout the state for an all-out boycott of the DNR. It' s a stop of any support."


That means not buying licenses and not allowing hunting on their properties, he explained. It also means not supporting the DNR with money, volunteerism or assistance in reporting violators of game laws.

" The department has turned on the people funding them," said Mascaretti, who works with the developmentally disabled. " We do not want people shooting from helicopters. They should stop baiting and feeding in the CWD area, not in the rest of the state."

His father, Donald Mascaretti of Racine, is equally upset.

" They are ridiculous," he said of the Natural Resources Board. " They do what they want. Nobody can control the people on that board. They can bait in part of Michigan, so why not in part of Wisconsin?"

He noted that the board rejected an attempt to allow disabled people to bait dear for hunting.

" I' ve been hunting for 57 years," said the senior Mascaretti, who is 69. " If they use helicopters, I will buy a 10-gauge. I have cancer, but I' ll make a believer out of anyone. This is supposed to be a free country."

Both men said the economy of northern Wisconsin has been hurt by the DNR' s hunting restrictions.

" A friend from Illinois was going to buy property for turnkey hunting in Marquette County, but he' s not. He was coming up for turkey season but he' s not," Todd said.

Todd' s wife, Trista, 30, said she is a beginning bow hunter not yet confident enough to hunt without using bait.

" How do you get new people when you make it so hard for them?" she said.

Besides the family support, Todd Mascaretti said that several landowners in the area and friends are ready to support the boycott, but that he hopes it will spread statewide.

" This is a grass-roots effort. It will steamroll," he predicted.